Customer Reviews (6)

Seed to Harvest by Octavia E. Butler
Collected for the first time are all four of Octavia E. Butler's Patternist novels: Wild Seed, Mind of My Mind, Clay's Ark, and Patternmaster.Now you get to see this whole unique world from its beginnings hundreds of years ago to its conclusion hundreds and thousands of years in the future.Seed to Harvest will delight and terrify you in a way only Butler can.

Our main character and quasi hero is Doro, who is more like a god or perhaps a devil in a way, instead of a human.He has a special power: he's immortal, only to continue living forever he has to consume other people's souls and become that person, inhabiting that body.He has been doing this for a thousand years, and lives his life as he does until one day he meets a woman, Anyanwu, in Africa, in the seventeenth century.She is a shapeshifter and has unique powers of her own, such as the ability to heal by a kiss, and with an incredible strength, she can defend herself against anything.Wild Seed is their story, as they meet and get to know each other, fall in love, and travel to New Amsterdam, where they will start their own family of gifted children.Along the way they find other characters with special abilities, which Doro believes is somehow linked to his history and his own powers.But Doro is also creating this family for his own personal survival, so he will have more victims to keep him alive and immortal.Wild Seed ends with the family now quite large, and Anyanwu unable to live with Doro anymore, leaving him.

Mind ofMy Mind is close to the present day, Anyanwu has changed her name to Emma, wanting to separate herself from her past, but unable to.Doro now lives in Forsyth, California, where his family continues to grow with new individuals and their unique powers.It is here that the Pattern begins to emerge of this large family that is all interrelated, and that is in constant struggle with the paternal master, Doro.The book ends with the final death of Doro, who is sealed in his current body, cremated and no longer able to take another, ending the line.But the Pattern is not finished.

Clay's Ark is set in the twenty-third century and it is here that the spaceship, known as Clay's Ark, returns to Earth with an alien and a sickness that begins to infect everyone.But at the same time a new race is formed out of the sickness, out of those on the spaceship, who become known as "Clayarcs."And as time passes, they establish themselves as a formidable force on the planet.

Patternmaster is the mighty conclusion to the long series, where the Patternists and Clayarcs fight against each other in a distant future time where evolution has made them look barely human.This is a hostile and tough world, where only one race can triumph, the question is which one will it be?

While Seed to Harvest can be boiled down to a simple summary, Butler has weaved many emotions and issues that are ever present in the current world, on the subject of race and evolution, on what it means to be human.The book merely continues to prove that Octavia E. Butler was one of the best science fiction writers of her time.

For more book reviews, and other writings, go to www.alexctelander.com

An Author Who Will be Missed
Octavia Butler is one of the stellar writers of Science Fiction that this earth has been graced with.Because she makes everything relevant to life on earth and opens up possibilities for the mind to think on, her stories come to life.Buy this book and you'll surely want to read all of her trilogies.

An excellent series.
Octavia was one of the greatest authors of our generation. If you haven't read these novels separate then you have to do yourself a favor and read them now. I've meet this author and she was joy to speak with. She had an insight that is very rare in today's authors. I'm happy that the publishers have decided to keep her words alive with this new edition of some of her work. And to Octavia....I will always miss you. May your books never go out of print and give you the immortality that you so eloquently wrote about.

Orson Scott Card has nothing on Octavia!
Think Sherri Tepper at her height (not the preachiness she's descended to).Think Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card.Think the moral dilemna's and characterization of Robin Hobb.When you think of these things you're close to understanding this series by Octavia Butler.Being a black woman I was initially intrigued by the idea of afro-centric science fiction.But this is soooo much more than that.Octavia Butler is one of the most talented sci fi writers I've read in god knows how long.Her characters may be racially African-American (and sometimes just African, and usually a mix of a lot of different races) but this book has nothing really to do with that.It does lightly explore racial inequalities, but focuses more on social inequalities, the plight of the impoverished.Even better than that the REAL focus of the book is the science fiction.It's not just a social commentary with a touch of the extraordinary. It's true hard core sci/fi fantasy, and it is extraordinary.
The book follows a race of mentally gifted individuals of all ethnicities forward in time from the pre-slavery era to around 2225.These individuals are breed like cattle to be the companions, family, science project and ultimately FOOD of the scariest super villian you ever want to read about....Doro.Doro is a superbeing, a soul-vampire.He is immortal in that he jumps bodies but not like the rather kindly Lestat in Anne Rices series.He has to jump bodies, it's how he feeds.He likes it.And the more mentally talented the person is the better the food tastes to him.He also has the ability of tracking a person that he's met anywhere, across continents and across time.You cant escape him, and the last thing you want to do is kill him.That would only precipitate him jumping into YOUR body.Doro, collects mentally gifted individuals and breeds them together for his own amusement and as a source of food.I don't want to tell you much more becuase it would ruin the surprise.Suffice it to say that because of his tampering he breeds a race of humans that become a bit much to handle in later years.
The description I've just given you is pretty clinical.THe great thing about this book is that Octavia's superb writing allows you to live in these peoples lives, experience their powers and their terrible limitations.She puts the slave collar on your own neck and lets the blisters rise on your own skin.You can see, feel and taste their world.
I strongly reccomend this book to anyone who likes the writers I listed in the first paragraph.My advice to you is to be mentally ready...you're about to go on a real rollor coaster ride.

Great series
I found this title while browsing around Amazon's New in Fiction January list, and was quite excited about the prospect of a new Butler book.Unfortunately, it is a compilation of books I've already read...bummer!I echo the comment left before me -- if you're new to Butler, great series to read.

Compilation includes the following novels: Wild Seed, Mind of My Mind, Clay's Ark, and Patternmaster. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (58)

A New Twist On An Old Monster Legend
Fans of Anne Rice (B.C.), would want to check out this 'vampire' novel, that takes the myth, and turns it on it's head. Shori looks like a young (nine year old) African American girl, but has already logged over fifty years of life. When she "awakes" her head is pounding, she is in a cave, and has no recollection of how she got there, or worse, who or what she is. In the most simplistic terms she would be considered what we know as a vampire.Yet Butler takes this idea, and morphs it from the traditional garlic and stake fearing blood sucker, to a race of people that eventually die, but only after a long life that involves multiple human partners both male and female called symbionts who lead productive and fulfilling lives, each party enriching the other. This pansexual nature of the character favors Rice's world, but the story feels much more modern, and I'd even go as far to say a supernatural allegory about race relations on the world. Much has been said about Butler's beautiful prose. I thought it fine, but nothing spectacular, with minor quibbles on character inconsistencies, like how she can't understand how to open the glove compartment in a car, yet can walk into a room and give detailed descriptions of what's in it? The downside to the book is that it ends opening a whole world that begs to be explored but will never come to fruition because of Butler's unfortunate death. I wouldn't say it's a complete cliffhanger, but as I neared the end I was wondering how she'd ever wrap it up. The answer is, she does, and doesn't. An entertaining if not wholly satisfying read.

Learning to be a Vampire!
Some years ago I've read for the first time a book from Ms Butler (1947-2006). I was captivated by her amazing imagination and quality of her prose and became instantly a fan of the author. This first impression was corroborated as I read more and more of her writings.
Unfortunately for us, her fans, Ms. Butler has recently passed leaving the "Parable" trilogy unfinished and I'm sure many delightful stories unwritten.

She was a highly talented writer and Sci-Fi Hugo and Nebula awards winner.
All her books showed a rich mixture of imagination, complex and interesting characters and conflictive situations to test their mettle.


Here the reader is presented with Octavia's last novel.

"Fledgling" is a typically Butler's product.
She explores in depth, in a relatively short text, the intricacies of symbiosis between human and alien specie.
This subject was already researched by Octavia in her amazing trilogy "Xenogenesis". Both stories refer to symbiosis and how this affects human mind producing very different attitudes from rejection to uncensored adhesion. This time she focuses in the alien subject.

In the novel the author recreates successfully vampires' myth starting with a young one who has lost all her memories and should explore the world to discover who she is and what she is.


This book is a very representative of Ms. Butler's universes. Do not miss it!
Reviewed by Max Yofre.

Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler
In Fledgling, renowned science fiction author Octavia E. Butler, who sadly passed away last year, reinvents the idea of the vampire and their existence in history, putting her own original slant on it.While the book is complete in its rounded story, one is left wanting more of this very original creation on an archetype.

The book opens with what canonly be termed an uncomfortable situation, at the very least.From the viewpoint of the main character, Shori, who has been horribly disfigured by some terrible accident, the reader learns she is a vampire as the character comes to realize this herself, feeding off another, and healing incredibly fast.She has also forgotten everything about herself and her history, and with the reader, slowly learns about this.She then finds herself what is termed a symbiont, which is one who provides a regular blood source to the vampires known as Ina.The man, brought under the power of Shori and the hypnotic venom in her bite, essentially falls in love with her and their relationship begins at full steam, even though Shori appears no older than a ten year old black girl, and he an adult.The reader is left feeling very uncomfortable about this Lolitaesque relationship.

Eventually, when Shori confronts the place of her accident and meets other Ina, the full story is revealed.It is thought that she and her whole family of vampires and symbionts were all killed in this terrible attack.The reason was that she was the result of a genetic experiment to make it possible for vampires to brave the sun.The result was successful, with Shori being able to travel during the day - although she must remain fully covered and will suffer burns.Nevertheless, there is someone who feels that Shori is an abomination and must be destroyed.

It is when this second group of Ina are killed with two symbionts surviving, that Shori and her group flees to another Ina family in California where she finds further answers.And when this group is then attacked, but due to Shori's preparation, thwarts the attack and captures three of them, all the answers are revealed.Behind the attacks are a large family in Los Angeles who have always hated the idea of meddling with the pure race of the Ina.The book pushes forth its message here with the idea that these ancient Ina are angry not so much at Shori for being black, but at her genetically engineered nature of mixing human genes and Ina genes; they no longer consider her Ina, no longer pure.

Then in a three-day ceremony that harkens back to every form of town government and religious ritual, a judicial gathering is convened with members of many families of Ina represented, while the complete family of those who are supposedly behind the killings are put on trial.The question is whether the jury will side with a small black girl who remembers nothing of her past and heritage, or with the proud and ancient Ina family who have helped so many.

Butler skillfully and subtly asks questions of race and genetic alteration: what it is to be human, or in this case Ina, and how we as people see that, and what value we place on it.In a time when a cloned and/or genetically engineered human is not so much a future nightmare, but a worry we all wait to read about in the newspapers every day, Fledgling certainly does its job in helping those who are unsure on these matters make decision.

For more book reviews, and other writings, go to www.alexctelander.com

New Twist On Vampires
FLEDGLING has one of the best opening chapters I've read in years.I was hooked on the spot as the mysterious narrator tried to figure out what had been done to her.And why.From her descriptions of her injuries (a smushy head with the skull shattered), I knew immediately someone had tried to kill her.I also wondered how she'd survived such a thing, but I chalked that up to the willing suspension of disbelief required of a reader.

But then things got seriously weird.

Given the mystery of who had tried to kill her, I was suddenly confronted with the even deeper, richer mystery of who this mysterious narrator was.And WHAT she was.Because she definitely wasn't human.I knew that at once from the injuries.When she ran down and killed a deer with her bare hands and ate it raw, I was even more convinced.

Besides having a killer opening, FLEDGLING also serves to open a whole new world of vampirism that readers will truly never get to see the rest of.As it turns out, the novel was award-winning science fiction writer Octavia Butler's last book before her death.

Butler was the author of several science fiction books that focused on the relationships humans might have with alien cultures. Her world-building skills were sharp and keenly directed at the social problems that might crop up, as well as the individual's struggle to remain alive against desperate odds.

FLEDGLING maintained Butler's story interests as she explored the world of vampires she created. Obviously from all the backstory she included in the novel, there were plenty of other stories to tell.

Shori Matthews, the first-person narrator of the book, is a stand-out character. Her voice rings true from the first page to last. One of Butler's gifts as an author was the ability to focus entirely on the character and bring the world to life through that character's eyes. She did that again with Shori.

However, Butler obviously chose to be extremely provocative in her choice of characters. Shori is physically a twelve-year old child. Meaning that she is the same build and size as a human pre-teen. In actual years, she's 53, they even then she's counted as being young among the vampire culture.

I struggled with some of the graphic sex scenes that were written in the book. Although Butler dismissed the age and size difference between Shori and her human lover, I found I could not for a time. It just jarred too much, and felt wrong. Gradually, I distanced myself from that feeling and concentrated on the mystery and the threat that surrounded Shori and the vampire culture that was at risk.

Butler's tendency was to acknowledge that the events she was writing about were world-shaking, but she always seem to choose to reveal that story on a small stage rather than a large one.FLEDGLING could have been epic in scope, sweeping from Shori to several other characters that were involved in different actions. A choice of multiple narrators to tell all the story instead of just Shori's piece of it would have been welcome. I would have liked to have seen more of the worldview. However, Shori's story is immediately compelling and draws the reader in almost effortlessly.

The book was a fast read despite the number of pages involved. Shori is one of those characters readers can identify with almost immediately. There are some rough edges - regarding the age issue and a few other things - but Shori feels human and real.

Butler's fans will have to take this one to complete their collection, and vampire junkies will definitely want another, fresher look at their favorite species.

4 Stars Because I Like Octavia Butler
I like Octavia Butler. I pretty much like anything she's written and I am sad she died last year. I've been looking forward to reading this book for a while. It's very easy to get into and the characters are quite likable. I had some reservations about the meeting between Shori and Wright early on but it was explained well later.

That said...I did enjoy the book but I have that Chinese food feeling about it. It just left me wanting more. What happens next? How does Shori proceed with re-educating herself? Does she successfully manage to set up a household and resurrect the Matthews name? How do Wright and Joel manage? How do Celia and Brook manage? Does she become the potent ally Joan Braithwaite believes she will?

I know that with the death of Ms Butler those questions won;t get answered. Or at least not for some time if someone gets hold of any notes she may have left.

Anyway, it's an excellent read, just...vaguely unsatisfying due to the "unfinished" feeling. ... Read more

Amazon.com
In a world devastated by nuclear war with humanity on the edge of extinction, aliens finally make contact. They rescue those humans they can, keeping most survivors in suspended animation while the aliens begin the slow process of rehabilitating the planet. When Lilith Iyapo is "awakened," she finds that she has been chosen to revive her fellow humans in small groups by first preparing them to meet the utterly terrifying aliens, then training them to survive on the wilderness that the planet has become. But the aliens cannot help humanity without altering it forever.Bonded to the aliens in ways no human has ever known, Lilith tries to fight them even as her own species comes to fear and loathe her. A stunning story of invasion and alien contact by one of science fiction's finest writers.Book Description
In a world devastated by nuclear war with humanity on the edge of extinction, aliens finally make contact. They rescue those humans they can, keeping most survivors in suspended animation while the aliens begin the slow process of rehabilitating the planet. When Lilith Iyapo is "awakened," she finds that she has been chosen to revive her fellow humans in small groups by first preparing them to meet the utterly terrifying aliens, then training them to survive on the wilderness that the planet has become. But the aliens cannot help humanity without altering it forever.Bonded to the aliens in ways no human has ever known, Lilith tries to fight them even as her own species comes to fear and loathe her. A stunning story of invasion and alien contact by one of science fiction's finest writers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (56)

SF Classic, apocalypse / slavery / gender themes
I'm glad I finally got around to sampling Octavia Butler's SF.She's top-notch, and I only wish I'd found her sooner."Dawn" is a superior treatment of a classic SF theme that projects troubling here-and-now events into a crescendo of violence that results in the destruction of humanity.This sets the stage for a scenario that posits deliverance at the price of universal slavery to an alien race; a deliverance that will end in extinction as complete as, and far more spiritually devastating than, that already accomplished by fulfillment of the alleged human genetic imperative to self-destruct.

Butler handles this weighty theme with deftness and indirection.The reality of Ounkali domination of every aspect of human life, right down to the neural and cellular level, is masked by the emotional allure of apparently reciprocal inter-species attachments and obligations, and further finessed by the human genetic "sin" of hierarchicalism as manifest in the more than occasional cussedness and irrationality of the humans selected for awakening.

The Ounkali's manipulative genius is such that de facto human enslavement is staged as a benefit of such great value that it cannot be resented - at least not by the principal character, Lilith, whose sense of justice (she and every other human would be dead without alien intervention, after all) is reinforced by the careful indoctrination / conditioning of this woman selected for her unique combination of genetic and experiential characteristics.

I'm deeply impressed with Butler's handling of a theme of such sensitivity and import to American culture without beating us over the head with it.She makes her point about slavery with scarcely a mention of the word itself.It gives us the opportunity to read between the lines, and to think - something we are all genetically capable of, but not necessarily inclined to do.

Not Free SF Reader
This odd series I didn't find too interesting.Maybe I would if I was an invading alien sex therapist.This is almost a horror story, with how creepy it is in parts.Condescending aliens treating people at times how people treat animals, which perhaps it part of the point?

Lilith's Struggle
The war is over.Nuclear winter sets in and what is left of humanity squabbles over ever-dwindling resources.Enter the Oankali.An extraterrestrial race who picked up the last vestiges of humanity (and put them into stasis) and took them to their ship orbiting beyond our moon.

Lilith Iyapo was among the last vestiges of humanity picked up and taken to the Oankali ship.Lilith was the human the Oankali chose to become the bridge between themselves and humanity.The Oankali are going to save us from ourselves and they enlist Lilith's help; but there is a price, and that price may be so high that not only may Lilith Iyapo fail in her job to bridge the gap between the two sentient cultures, it may tear the remaining humans apart...leaving no chance to rebuild the once-great civilization that once populated planet Earth.

Octavia E. Butler's Dawn is beautifully written.Lilith, who has so much internal strength, is helpless before the Oankali.And yet, the Oankali are so gentle, so...precise in their study of Lilith and the rest of humanity.Despite the cost of what the Oankali want, Lilith befriends the Oankali, cares for them, and they for her.Lilith's dichotomy is exquisitely illustrated.On one hand she cares deeply for the Oankali.On the other, she knows she must stand by her fellow humans...for the sake of her people's humanity.

Lilith's struggle, literally caught between two separate worlds, is the best of what science fiction is all about.I strongly encourage any one who picks this up to read it without hesitation.

what if the salvation of humanity was to be come less than human?
In the first volume of her Xenogenesis Trilogy Octavia Butler introduces us the wreckage of an Earth we once knew, but no longer. Nuclear Holocaust. It happened. Millions and Billions died. And then the aliens came to rescue the survivors.

Lilith Iyapo is one of the survivors. The novel opens with Lilith being Awakened and interrogated. She does not know where she is or who her captors are. Turns out it isn't the Russians or some other group, but rather the Oankali, an alien race come to save humanity but also to change humanity and change themselves in the process. Told through Lilith's perspective we are given a very personal and narrow reaction to finding oneself isolated on an alien ship and being told two hundred and fifty years have passed and that the aliens have mostly cleaned Earth and intend to recolonize the planet with human Oankali hybrids.

Lilith is to be the mother of this new civilization but she wants nothing to do with it, of course. She knows this would be the end of humanity but what choice does she have?

Dawn is a novel about first contact, what it means to be human, humanity, genetics, and at times sexuality. With two more novels set in this trilogy, Dawn is an ambitious opening volume to the trilogy with a lot of story left open to interpretation and Butler never quite tells the story the reader expects. Keeping the viewpoint narrowed on Lilith, we are given, as we are in her other novels, a very particular perspective and a strong female lead.

As her other work is, Dawn is a very fine science fiction novel. While more overt science fiction than later novels (or Kindred, for that matter), Dawn is a novel worth recommending even to those who might not necessarily enjoy science fiction (though I would recommend Kindred or Parable of the Sower first).

-Joe Sherry

Who asked you to save us? Let us rest in peace!
A couple of years ago I've read for the first time a book from Ms Butler. I was captivated by her amazing imagination and quality of her prose and became instantly a fan of the author. This first impression was corroborated as I read more of her writings.
Unfortunately for us, her fans, Ms. Butler has recently passed leaving the "Parable" trilogy unfinished and I'm sure many delightful stories unwritten.

She was highly talented writer and win Sci-Fi Hugo and Nebula awards.
All her books showed a rich mixture of imagination, complex and interesting characters and conflictive situations to test their mettle.

This trilogy is not an exception to Ms. Butler production. You may buy all three separate volumes "Dawn", "Adulthood Rite's" and "Imago" or have them all in one book: "Lilith's Brood". Whatever your choice is you won't be disappointed.

The story is as follows: Humans had self destroyed in a crazy war but miraculously an alien race, the Oankalis, came to the rescue and save millions of them.
The Oankalis traveled eons and genetically mix with other alien species, evolving each time with the exchange; they are a three gender race.
Humanity should be grateful...yet there is a major problem, Oankalis sight produces an overwhelming rejection reaction in human beings. This is a true xenophobic symptom which is very difficult to overcome by subjects who get in touch with the aliens.

Is it possible to overcome this? Ms. Butler shows all possible reactions through the characters of her novels. Oankalis also have mixed reactions to Humans they are uncertain on how to handle them.

"Dawn" focuses on Lilith one of the countless human beings that are awakened and exposed to Oankali's contact.
Lilith battles courageously to overcome her apprehensions and relates to different members of an Oankali family:Jdahya, Nikanj and Kahguyaht.
When she is prepared she burdened with the overwhelming task of awake a large group of humans and trains them to survive on Earth in a wild entourage.
Deep conflicts sprout and are treated with masterful hand by the author.

This book is high science fiction stuff!!! Do not miss it and continue reading the next two parts!

Reviewed by Max Yofre. ... Read more

Book Description
Dawn: After nuclear war destroys the world, Earths survivors are rescued by the miraculously powerful Oankali aliens- who survive by merging genetically with primitive peoples without their permission. Adulthood Rites: Desperate to regain their world, childless humans seek to cleanse the alien taint by kidnapping hybrid children. But the raiders are blind to the truth of Earths new children. Imago: The futures of both humans and aliens rest in one young beings successful metamorphosis into adulthood. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (33)

Not Free SF Reader
Another omnibus of the three books in this series.


This odd series I didn't find too interesting. Maybe I would if I was an invading alien sex therapist. This is almost a horror story, with how creepy it is in parts. Condescending aliens treating people at times how people treat animals, which perhaps it part of the point, but the responses don't ring true here.




Hybrid helper?


Part of the problem with these books I think is the what would seem to be extremely unlikely acceptance so quickly of what the aliens are up to. Overwhelming technological advantage, sure, but given general human atittudes the suspension of disbelief required for this book was basically shattered pretty early.

After that, it is really dull. There is some resistance to the complete changing of the race, and the main character has a kid that may actually help reconcile the rebels.



More inbreeding issues.

A third novel in this series that is basically the same quality as the one preceding it, and adds little more to what is going on, or more of the same. Aliens remove breeding, then want to hybridise and cross-breed, and it turns out they may need some human breeding after all. DOH.

Fabulous Collection!
In my opinion, these 3 novels (Dawn, Adulthood Rites and Imago) are some of Octavia's best work. These novels explore many of her popular themes, race, sex, gender and humanity at large. Great starter for anyone looking to build their collection.

Friendly but Invasive Aliens
The way she writes is as if I'm watching events unfold on CNN, its real feeling and spooky. The set up is great and the plot unfortunately all to believeable. Humans mess up in foriegn affairs and get into a thermo nuclear war while aliens watch from orbit. They haul us out of the flames but now there's a price to pay and its a biggie. I got into this book and I think anyone who likes books about aliens and human interaction will really enjoy this. Its complicated and at times depressing. But all in all a good book, it will stay with you long after you're done reading.

A forced breeding program for humans - with a heart
Lilith's Brood is the trilogy "Dawn," "Adulthood Rites," and "Imago" in one book. A fascinating tale of post apocalyptic Earth visited by a race of aliens physically designed to interbreed species through genetic manipulation. The remaining humans must learn to accept the species, interbreed and live in harmony with them, or else be condemned to a Earth covered with raging jungles, angry displaced men and few resources ... and even that Earth may not last as long as the Humans think ...

Lilith is an intelligent black woman who initially resists the aliens but eventually comes around to their way of thinking - for her own good, and the good of her people. By "Brood" refers both ro Lillith's own children, and humanity in general - the fate of which constantly weighs on Lilith's shoulders despite the sorrow she's experienced at their hands. Butler does a great job taking you along Lilith's emotional ride, and you feel not only for Lilith, but for the aliens, the humans and humanity in general.

A lot of social commentary - about race, gender, and nationality - is encompassed in this story, sometimes not too subtly.But to me it never felt preachy - I almost always came away with a felling of "yeah, that is probably exactly what would happen". Butler has a great grasp of the basic nature of the human psyche.

One of the major faults, and the reason I gave this book 4 instead of 5 stars, is that the authors descriptions of the aliens and their habitats, while imaginative, lacks the kind of descriptive, relatable detail required to create a picutre in your head of what your reading. Visualization is especially important with science fiction and/or fantasy, so this shortcoming seriously effects some parts of the story.

After reading this I went on to read the Patternmaster Trilogy. I would advise against it. The themes are somewhat similar, but in a more bizarre, disjointed form, totally devoid of the sensitivity that makes Lilith's Brood a pretty good read.

Great study on human sociology and culture
I'm not normally "into" sci-fi, but I was more intensely drawn into this book the longer I read it.It is intriguing to me how similar this is to how Lilith was drawn into the Ookali way of life.The author did a wonderful job of gradually introducing the reader into new ways of thinking.You find yourself accepting a portion of the alien society you didn't think you would.Then, a few pages later, you accept another part.Toward the end of the book (which is actually 3 novels in one), I found myself liking the alien way of life a bit better than what we humans have produced in earth's general culture.But, this all makes it sound so cerebral.Actually, it is FUN to read, too. ... Read more

Book Description

"An outstanding short story collection . . . [Butler] is an impressive writer whose work displays how science fiction readily transcends the perceived stylistic limitations of the genre."-St. Petersburg Times

Customer Reviews (19)

Not One Word Wasted
"What good is science fiction to Black people?" If you have ever wondered this, or if you've ever thought that the future was limited to shiny, cybernetic miracles, you need to read Bloodchild and Other Stories. A collection of five short stories and two wonderfully spare essays on the art of writing, this book serves as a fine introduction to the works of Octavia Butler.

Butler's novels have won the most prestigious awards in the science fiction world, even though they often deal with questions of race and culture that have not always captured the attention of science fiction writers, or the interest of science fiction readers. Her protagonists are frequently strong Black women - think Celie by way of Ellen Ripley. The stories in this volume include everything from synthetic diseases that rob people of their basic humanity to the subtleties of interpersonal relations in difficult circumstances. The title story is an SF exploration of the relationship between two unequal species that stands as a mind-bending discourse on slavery and human bondage. There are no laser swords or starships here - only a series of meditations on the possibilities of being human.

the short fiction of Octavia Butler, the outstanding Speech Sounds
Besides her exceptional novels, Octavia Butler has published a collection of her short fiction entitled Bloodchild and Other Stories.The opening story in the collection is her Hugo and Nebula award winning story, the title story, "Bloodchild".This is what she has called her "male pregnancy story" and it features an Earth which has been taken over by some sort of alien creatures who form symbiotic relationships with humans, but who also use humans to breed their young and usually males because impregnating females means fewer humans will be born which means fewer young of their own kind.It was an interesting story.

My favorite of the collection, however, is her Hugo winning story "Speech Sounds".Some sort of cataclysm has hit our planet, one which has robbed humanity of the ability to speak and in some cases regressed the mental development of humanity to a more base level.Set in Los Angeles, "Speech Sounds" shows the loss of communication and what that does to society and we see it through the eyes of one woman who was on a bus when an incident occurred.

"The Evening and the Morning of the Night" is a story which sticks with the reader, though with me it was for the wrong reason I believe.This story features a hereditary disease which causes some people to lose their mind and try to dig their way out of their own skin and it is that image of people trying to do that to themselves that sickened me a bit, even though all that action occurred off camera, if you will.Interesting as a concept and well written, it is also one I would rather forget.

"Near of Kin" is Butler's one non-science fiction story and it is a story about family and perceived family.Quite good, but it would belong more in another collection than in a genre collection like this.

I did not remember "Crossover" two minutes after I finished.

Bloodchild and Other Stories also includes two essays on writing and being a writer and for all their brevity, they are interesting as a mini biography of Butler and also for the glimpse of her publishing career.The glimpse I was most struck by was that after selling two stories at Clarion, she then went five years before selling another piece of work.Five years!For an author of Butler's talent!This explains, of course, Butler's mantra of: Persist.

Each story or essay is followed by an Afterword written by Butler giving a little bit of context or explanation as needed to the piece of fiction (or non fiction).

The edition of Bloodchild and Other Stories I was able to read was not the expanded edition which featured two more short stories.This edition, succinct as it is, is worth reading for fans of the genre and especially for fans of Octavia Butler.

-Joe Sherry

Bloodchild
Once again, a great book. The one thing that always impesses me about Octavia...she really makes you think about things, and most of what she makes you think about has nothing to do with what she writes. It is HOW she writes.

I'll Miss Octavia Butler
Octavia Butler died this year and it's a tremendous loss for all of us.Her writing is exquisite, cutting to the heart of both the beauty and the horror that makes us human.

The title story, Bloodchild, reveals the horror of what humans will endure for their own survival. Set as fugitive humans live on another world, where they act as birth carriers for an alien race.Scary and truthful.

The rest of the stories are equally compelling.This is a wonderful collection that all Sci-fi fans should read.

CV Rick

New admirer of Octavia Butler
I was unfamiliar with Octavia E. Butler until now. I am, now, a great admirer of her work. This is a story about humans trying to earn their keep living among aliens by trading themselves. The trade can be very gruesome and deadly. It tells of a un-nerving tale of a young boy into adulthood and adult choices. The other stories are as captivating. The book is powerful, entertaining, and contains short afterword that accompanies each piece where Butler describes her perspectives while writing it.Luckily there is more of her work I can start on. ... Read more

Book Description
More than 250,000 copies soldDana, a modern black woman, is celebrating her twenty-sixth birthday with her new husband when she is snatched abruptly from her home in California and transported to the antebellum South. Rufus, the white son of a plantation owner, is drowning, and Dana has been summoned across the years to save him. After this first summons, Dana is drawn back, again and again, to the plantation to protect Rufus and ensure that he will grow to manhood and father the daughter who will become Dana's ancestor. Yet each time Dana's sojourns become longer and more dangerous until it is uncertain whether or not her life will end, long before it has even begun. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (167)

despite this book, i love her!
Kindred is an okay book. It got boring for me in the middle. As some people have pointed out, it is written from an African American point of view, which is unlike Bulter. She usually seems to write from the perspective of a being, flawed and connected to all others somehow. Race is usually a minor detail. I think that she attempted to connect African American's with the past in this book.She wanted to make slavery more real to us, so that we wouldn't forget the history of this country and our history in it. But she is a science fiction writer and this was not science fiction, so it wasn't one of her more focused and consice books. It is my least favorite of all her writings, but I urge everyone to read all of her sci-fi books because she is truly an amazing author.

I'm in love with Octavia Butler!
What a thought provoking book.
From the beginning till the end, this story fascinated me, kept me thinking about the world today.
I've always wondered why people in general let things happen to them...like slavery. Why did the enslaved people not stand up their enslavers?. This story gave me the answer dead on. Before you know it you adjust to your situation. You become a product of your environment, slaves and enslavers alike.
This book is a must read!!
The world lost a great treasure with Ms Butler's dead...

Intense and original
This is my first Octavia Butler book and surely not my last. The story of a modern black woman transported into the days of slavery is compelling enougheven just from her perspective; the perspective of the people who surround her is even more fascinating.It is as vivid as if Ms. Butler had actually been the traveler.I loved it.

Kindred
I bought this book for my niece, who needed it for school. She said that it was a very good book, and was a very interesting story to learn about. Received it in excellent condition, and was a quick and easy transaction.

Thoughtful and fast paced.
I love time travel books! What I don't love is long-winded, implausible explanations of how time travel is possible. This book skips the crazy explanations and goes right to the good part--what happens. The hero is repeatedly sucked back to the time of slavery and must cope with living as aslave until she gets sucked back to the present. It makes you examine modern day prejudice with absolutely no preaching, yet reminds us all of how lucky we are to be living in modern times. I read this book cover to cover in one or two days. ... Read more

Amazon.com
Octavia E. Butler, the grande dame of science fiction, writes extraordinary, inspirational stories of ordinary people. Parable of the Sower is a hopeful tale set in a dystopian future United States of walled cities, disease, fires, and madness. Lauren Olamina is an 18-year-old woman with hyperempathy syndrome--if she sees another in pain, she feels their pain as acutely as if it were real. When her relatively safe neighborhood enclave is inevitably destroyed, along with her family and dreams for the future, Lauren grabs a backpack full of supplies and begins a journey north. Along the way, she recruits fellow refugees to her embryonic faith, Earthseed, the prime tenet of which is that "God is change." This is a great book--simple and elegant, with enough message to make you think, but not so much that you feel preached to.Book Description
Octavia E. Butler, the grande dame of science fiction, writes extraordinary, inspirational stories of ordinary people. Parable of the Sower is a hopeful tale set in a dystopian future United States of walled cities, disease, fires, and madness. Lauren Olamina is an 18-year-old woman with hyperempathy syndrome--if she sees another in pain, she feels their pain as acutely as if it were real. When her relatively safe neighborhood enclave is inevitably destroyed, along with her family and dreams for the future, Lauren grabs a backpack full of supplies and begins a journey north. Along the way, she recruits fellow refugees to her embryonic faith, Earthseed, the prime tenet of which is that "God is change." This is a great book--simple and elegant, with enough message to make you think, but not so much that you feel preached to. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (101)

Not for the puritanical
If you're fanatical about Christianity (or as my mother would say 'simply a good Christian'), then this book is not for you.

Octavia challenges the contemporary thinking of what/who God is and even goes one step further to create her own religion. One of the reviewers (luckily only 5 of the 100 reviewers didn't like this novel), called the author and this story "heresy"... which I think should warn those who would use such a term in 2008, to stay away from this award winning tale.

For those of you (who like myself) don't mind challenging status quo or reading about something not particularly "PC", then I recommend Parable of the Sower.

It takes you into the not so distant future where the good times have definitely stopped rolling. Like all sci-fi/fantasy readers, we're pretty good at suspending immediate reality to follow an author into a new world that may not realistically ever exist for the shear ride of the unknown.

And that is how I would describe this novel. Each page was a new adventure. You grew with Lauren and you liked her practical nature. She was a survivor and you respected her for that. Her thoughts were immature for the adult reader, but mature for a woman her age, which makes it appeal to those of all ages.

Other reviewers give a synopsis of the novel so I won't. What I will say is that when a novel makes you pause and think after you've finished reading it (or you find yourself doing that after a few paragraphs because the author's ability at drawing you in is just that good), it's worthy of being passed on to the next reader in hopes that they share the same experience.

I recommend and hope you enjoy.

Excellent Sci-Fi, MAKE A MOVIE!
I think this book was great because it is very readable and compelling. I am not usually a reader/writer, but this book is gripping for even the average TV watching person that rarely reads books.

I really think they should make a movie out of this book because it is so good. I could definitely see a sci-fi/horror/action type of movie coming out of this book, and it would probably be a great show.

You must read this book now!
This on one of those rare, extremely rare, books that are just perfectly written.If you are even reading this review then you must be interested so go ahead an get this book.I guarantee you will not be disappointed.

Parable of the Sower
I love Butler's style.I put Parable of the Talents on my wishlist!My nephew got me my Butler novel and I have loved her writing ever since.I am really enjoying this read.It is well written and tells a good story of what might happen if WE aren't careful.

Wow!
Like many readers, I keep lists of various books I want to read.For quite some time multiple titles by Octavia Butler have been on one or other of my lists -- in this case on two lists, one for SF writers I have not yet read but want to and one for dystopian novels -- but only now have I finally gotten around to one of them.I can promise that it will not take me very long to get to the next novel.

There is a line from BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER that kept coming to mind as I read this novel.In the marvelous episode "The Gift," that ended Season Five, a vampire is chasing a teenaged boy into an alley, where he intends to kill him.But just before he is able to do so, Buffy walks out interrupting the two of them and after some wisecracking dusts the vampire.Buffy tells the shocked boy to go home he asks her how she managed to take on a vampire and kill it."It's what I do," she replies."But you're just a girl."Like Buffy, Lauren Olamina is just a girl.But like Buffy she has taken on responsibilities that no teen should have to.

The novel is set in an utterly dystopian world.The world is our own (or that of the early nineties) gone completely to seed.America is suffering from a complete collapse of society and the economy.Society, in fact, has completely ceased to function.There is no police protection, no organized economy, no functioning government.The novel has more plausibility today than it did at the time it was written, since today we have the heartbreaking anarchy that we witnessed in New Orleans during Katrina, where people fired guns at boats and helicopters attempting to rescue people.Much like in the wake of Katrina the people in the suburb of Los Angeles depicted in this novel, people have become almost animalistic.A great deal of the power of the novel derives from her depiction of the oppressive paranoia that the forces in society place on Lauren.Like they say, you aren't paranoid if they really are out to get you.As her world collapses, taking friends, family, and home from her, Lauren responds heroically to it all, even if she is "just a girl."

What is more, Lauren is a "girl" of color.I have been working on a project surveying the female heroes on television and one of the alarming things about that has been the almost complete absence of nonwhite women in heroic roles.There was a black female pilot on SPACE: ABOVE AND BEYOND, a heroic female in CLEOPATRA 2525 and a tough black chick in FIREFLY (both roles played by Gina Torres), the ethnically indeterminate Max in DARK ANGEL, and Sharon Agathon in BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (played by Korean Canadian actress Grace Park), but while not quite exhausting the list, this comes close.What irritates me is that if TV were to have even ONE black female heroic lead, perpetually reactionary males (and trust me, I know a few) would start howling about PC characters on TV.But how can the almost complete absence of black female heroes be justified?Is there some rule that all heroes have to be white?And for the record, I write this as a white male.Lauren is a wonderful corrective for the almost overwhelming whiteness of SF, literary or otherwise.

One other aspect of the novel that I would like to note is how very, very well written it is.Even many well-known SF writers are simply not very good writers, but Butler is exceptionally talented.As I read it I was continually impressed at how well written it was, at how good, in fact, it was on multiple levels.

I can't recommend this novel highly enough.And the next novel I will read?PARABLE OF THE TALENTS, the sequel to this.And that will definitely not be the last Octavia Butler novel that I will read. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (68)

Exquisite---Awful Publisher Edition
Butler is an exquisite writer.

BUT, this publisher's edition is filled with errors---not just little periods, but repeated dialogue lines, and then half repeated lines mixed with other repeated lines, misspellings---son, and soon---HUGE difference in Butler's world.This edition sucks.Buy the book, just not this one.I usually endure publisher typos without issue--but this book is so messed up, I have to object.If I weren't short on time and money I'd buy another edition.

The story is amazing and I want to read it and not stop.Kindred I read in three days.This book is fantasy--but it is about people--not just "black" people, but people. I detest Toni Morrison because I feel she has this huge I am a black woman chip on her shoulder.Yuck.Butler has no such chip--inside the book she is compared to Morrison.An unfair insult to Butler.Buy this book.It is about the human condition and slavery---we are all slaves to something or someone.I am actually using her book as an example of HOW TO WRITE FANTASY in my MFA Thesis Project in Creative Writing.Superb.

Will Someone PLEASE Make a Movie Outta This Great Story
This book is awesome. My favorite Octavia Butler book. I finally bought the hardcover after re-reading to death my old paperback.

What makes this book so good, is simple - the story. Doro, a man/spirit who can not die and Anyanwu, a woman who can not be killed, in a struggle that mixes sci-fi, with African slave trade, to early America, with an Ike and Tina Tuner type love story.

Unmatched story that is ripe for cinematic gold.

Remarkable Writer of Speculative Fiction
Octavia Butler has a gift for story-telling. Anyone interested in speculative fiction should give "Wild Seed" a read. I promise, you won't put it down. Her characters are engaging, and even provocative. Creative, clever, and well-written, this book will remain in my library until it becomes ragged with use.

Stories
The stories that I remember the most is the incest one.It was a ok read.

Excellant Book!
Excellant Book! I could not put it down! If you are into science fiction you have to read this book! You will not be disappointed. The characters in this book are incredible and unforgettable! ... Read more

Amazon.com
This conclusion to the Xenogenesis series (Dawn and Adulthood Rights) focuses on Jodahs, the child of a union between humans, alien Oankali, and the sexless ooloi. The Oankali and ooloi are part of an extraterrestrial species that saved humanity from nuclear oblivion, but many humans feel the price for their help is too high: the Oankali and ooloi intend to genetically merge with humanity, creating a new species at the expense of the old. Even though the Oankali have--against their better judgment--created a human colony on Mars so that humanity as a species can continue unaltered, many human "resisters" either have not heard of the Mars colony or don't believe the Oankali will allow them to live there.Jodahs, who was thought to be a male but who is actually maturing into the first ooloi from a human/Oankali union, finds a pair of resisters who prove that some pure humans are still fertile. These humans may be his only hope to find successful mates, but they have been raised to revile and despise his species above all else.Book Description
This conclusion to the Xenogenesis series (Dawn and Adulthood Rights) focuses on Jodahs, the child of a union between humans, alien Oankali, and the sexless ooloi. The Oankali and ooloi are part of an extraterrestrial species that saved humanity from nuclear oblivion, but many humans feel the price for their help is too high: the Oankali and ooloi intend to genetically merge with humanity, creating a new species at the expense of the old. Even though the Oankali have--against their better judgment--created a human colony on Mars so that humanity as a species can continue unaltered, many human "resisters" either have not heard of the Mars colony or don't believe the Oankali will allow them to live there.Jodahs, who was thought to be a male but who is actually maturing into the first ooloi from a human/Oankali union, finds a pair of resisters who prove that some pure humans are still fertile. These humans may be his only hope to find successful mates, but they have been raised to revile and despise his species above all else. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (22)

Not Free SF Reader
More inbreeding issues.

A third novel in this series that is basically the same quality as the one preceding it, and adds little more to what is going on, or more of the same.Aliens remove breeding, then want to hybridise and cross-breed, and it turns out they may need some human breeding after all.DOH.

Or, aliens can be stupid and make scientific mistakes when conquering, too.


2 out of 5

Memorable Conclusion To Butler's "Xenogensis" Series
In the aftermath of a devestating nuclear conflict which has left Planet Earth radioactively poisoned, the surviving remnant of humanity must contend with the arrival of the alien Oankali. In her "Xenogenesis" series Octavia Butler wove a most fascinating saga on the nature of humanity, exploring the interactions between human survivors and the Oankali, and, in so doing, providing some insightful literary commentary on the racial and sexual issues which are still divisive among many Americans. "Imago" is a memorable, rather absorbing, character study of Jodahs, the hybrid human/Oankali shapeshifter who is capable of giving miracle cures to injured and diseased humans by his personal touch. But also latent within Jodahs' chromosomes are some unique genetic secrets which may portend humanity's - and Oankali's - future in the solar system. Butler concludes the "Xenogenesis" series on a triumphant, optimistic note in this fine early novel of hers, which many would regard as a classic of not just American science fiction literature, but perhaps too of feminist and Afro-American literature.

the third gender, another Xenogenesis novel about identity
Imago is the concluding volume in Octavia Butler's Xenogenesis trilogy and one thing that should be apparent by the time the readers gets more than a handful of pages into Imago is that Octavia Butler has written a trilogy in the more classic sense of the term.Butler's trilogy is a collection of three novels which tell otherwise complete stories that while they expand on the previous novel, each novel does not depend on the other to stand.Octavia Butler's trilogy is three stand alone novels telling three stories related in theme and setting and that builds an overall story arc as well as three smaller story arcs.

Imago is the story of Jodahs, the latest Oankali / human hybrid child of Lilith Iyapo.An interesting thing about the Oankali child is that as a child their gender is not set, so depending on the stimulation and experiences given to the child, the child may develop into a male, female, or ooloi (a third gender).Up until this point no construct (hybrid) children have been permitted to develop into ooloi because the Oankali have had concerns about how they would develop and it was only recently that male hybrids were permitted to develop.Jodahs, of course, develops into an ooloi hybrid rather than the male he, or it, was intended to be.

The story of Jodahs is one of isolation and dependence and the reader gets to experience the anxiety Jodahs feels and experiences from his community (an ooloi always needs to find a new home because of sensory differences with those in the home it was raised in).

We are now at least several decades, perhaps longer, from the events of Dawn and Adulthood Rites so Butler reveals some of how the Earth has developed and how the Oankali / human project has progressed.We learn that the Mars colony that was proposed in Adulthood Rites is a success and giving humanity the only chance to survive unchanged.

Imago is written with a strong sense of character and Butler describes the alien culture in such a way that it feels authentic and the hybrids in a way that we can see why some humans would never accept them, but also why others have accepted the Oankali.

As always, Imago and the Xenogenesis trilogy is an examination about race, differences, fear, prejudice, the future, and identity.As always, Octavia Butler does an excellent job with her storytelling.And, as is the case with the two previous Xenogenesis novels, Imago is a very strong work of fiction but somehow less outstanding than some of her other work.

-Joe Sherry

Passing of a Star
Octavia Butler recently died in Seattle. Her passing is a great loss to literature in general and science fiction in particular. She once said that she didn't really write `Science Fiction' as such because she did know much about science. In fact her books do tackle some of the big themes of SciFi, but are not in the `hard science' genre. Her themes were race, sexuality, and the nature of `reality.'

Ms Butler was dyslexic, [...], above average in height, African American, and a genius. She lived as a hermit in the middle of a major city and created a body of work which stands with the very best. She won both Hugo and Nebula Awards several times and the MacArthur Foundation `Genius' Award in 1995. I think she is one of the few SciFi writers to have received this recognition.

I am posting this review on each of the Xenogenesis Trilogy (Dawn, Adulthood Rites, and Imago) sites as well as the volume where they are collected; `Lilith's Brood.' All are excellent and recommended.

In this series Ms Butler took on sexuality and the nature of `humanity' in a startling new way. She gradually takes the reader from the perspective of a `human,' specifically an Earthling who encounters an alien race to the perspective of the `alien,' specifically the descendent of interbreeding between humans and aliens who is now the `human' and sees Earthlings as the aliens.

Ms Butler skills are so great that this change in perspective goes so slowly that the reader is largely unaware until it has been accomplished. While some will dither about which of Ms Butler's novels are her `greatest,' few will argue that this series is superb. I have read nearly all of Ms Butler's works and enjoyed them all. I think she was one of the finest writers of speculative fiction in recent history and will miss her work.

I started this series backwards and it didn't matter
I read this book before I read the other two even though this one came last. I didn't realize it was part of a series (the end part at that!) until I finished it and looked at the cover. Butler brought back things that happened in the other books without a terrible amount of exposition and a reader who didn't read the other two expects the world to be different anyway. I found this one to be more enjoyable than the first because there was no exposition, she assumed you knew what was happening because you read the other books but mentioned some things, like Akin's metamorphosis and Lilith's cancer to give it some continuity. I believe it is the mark of a great writer that someone can read the last book of a series and not even realize that it's part of a series. I don't think anyone could read a Harry Potter book after the first one without having that fact continually pounded over their head. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (28)

Fantastic
I forgot how much I enjoyed Butler's work. I found this book for sale at the used bookstore and snapped it up. W/O being cliche, I found she wrote the inner talk of the characters' well.

This book had me thinking about the storyline. And, I enjoyed the way she commented on race and class issues without wagging her finger at the reader. She is by far one of the best sci-fi writers. I don't know why I took a hiatus from her work, but I'll definitely read some of her newer stuff and go back and re-read the others.

A Great Read Sure to Engage
Octavia E. Butler's books often deal with the issues of race, sex, and class and feature young black women coming into their own. In MIND OF MY MIND, Mary, a young woman raised in tough conditions, realizes that she has extraordinary power, and this both frightens and amazes her. Her predecessor, Doro, is also someone of nearly unlimited power, but he can hardly be categorized as human. Able to take over the body of anyone, he discovered this ability as a child in ancient Africa. Through the ages he learns to control this power and with it embarks on a quest to breed a new species--one that will dominate the world.

However, his experiments are not without cost. Many of the humans that he "created" are wrong. Their abilities may be dormant and often cause mental problems that are uncontrollable. In one truly horrifying scene in the book, readers are presented with a possible outcome when two of these humans come together--a baby's rotting body is discovered among two people that are incapable of functioning because their abilities, in such close proximity, drive them crazy.

Still, there are some that function enough to breed more children. And finally, Doro has what he wants in Mary. But her power may prove greater than his, as he feels that she is what he could have been. He believes, at first, that she will be easy to guide and control because she is a female. Once she fully learns to command her abilities, she also learns to lead others like her, and she and Doro continue a dangerous game of mental chess as they learn what the other is truly capable of.

Though a short novel, it is written from multiple points of view and engages the reader with simple yet extraordinary prose and dialog. Anyone that enjoys science fiction and fantasy should enjoy this book; it is also a great read for anyone that is looking for an engaging story that probes the questions of humanity, evolution, and the responsibilities and pitfalls of power.

One Of Butler's Finest Works of Fiction
"Mind of My Mind" is one of Butler's most riveting excursions in vampiric fantasy and science fiction; the second chronologically in her critically acclaimed "Patternist" series, depicting a near future United States where humanity has split into two branches, most notably the telepathic vampiric one. In a riveting tale set almost entirely within the city of Los Angeles, Octavia Butler introduces us to an intriguing cast of normal humans and mutants, ultimately waging war to determine humanity's future; an intriguing cast comprised of credible, multi-dimensional people. An intricate test of physical and mental will pits the nearly age-less leader of the mutants, Doro, who has systematic bred a small portion of humanity for his own purposes, like a herder raising a unique breed of goats or sheep, against one of his "children", Mary, a young woman. Their epic struggle will determine whether this unique strain of humanity will not only survive, but ultimately, assume dominance over the "normals". Much to her credit, Butler conducts a vivid exploration of race and sexuality within the pages of "Mind of My Mind" replete with elegant literary passages and a splendid ear for dialogue. And her exploration of the importance of obtaining power is one that is timeless in science fiction, beginning most notably with Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein", but skillfully depicted and embellished by Butler in this admirable example of science fiction and fantasy writing. This is truly one novel which I can recommend highly to those interested not only in Octavia Butler's greatest works of fiction, but also in one of the finest ever written in American fantasy and science fiction.

Butler develops as a writer after Patternmaster
Mind of My Mind is the second published novel in Octavia Butler's Patternist series, and chronologically it is the second, but the first published is actually fifth in the chronology and the fourth published is first. Confused? Don't be. Stick with publication order and everything will be just fine.

In Patternmaster we are introduced to a future Earth where humanity is divided into Patternists (telepaths), the Mutes (normal humans), and Clayarks (disease altered humans living no better than beasts). The telepaths are linked through something called "The Pattern", hence Patternists.

Mind of My Mind jumps back to a time not far off the present day and none of the future Pattern exists. We are introduced to Doro, a once human who has lived for thousands of years by jumping from one body to the next. He has been selectively breeding families of humans for millenia for telepathic ability and now he has several humans who may have sufficient power and control to take the next step.

Up until Mary, most of Doro's potential telepaths have been failures. Most who have transitioned to be an Active have been unbalanced and a danger. Mary has the potential to be the strongest and the most stable, if she lives through transition from Latent to Active.

What follows is a gathering of telepaths, the rise of Mary, and the origins of the Pattern. While this can be read before Patternmaster or after Wild Seed (which is set even before this book), but publication order is the way to go as Butler reveals this world in a particular way and with each revelation the next becomes more important.

Patternmaster was quite obviously Octavia Butler's first novel. It was decent enough, but not as strong as her later works. With Mind of My Mind Butler has written a much stronger novel which deals more with issues of identity and belonging, but it is also simply a stronger story with greater detail and description and more raw emotion. The first half of the novel is building, building and telling a consistent storyline with shifting viewpoints. Midway through when Mary actually begins building the Pattern Butler's storytelling becomes fragmented in that we are now given scattered episodes about the building of the Pattern. There are greater shifts in time during the second half of the novel, but this too is building to a great conflict and a great confrontation.

Not perfect and not as extraordinary as her later work, Mind of My Mind is a much more accomplished novel than her debut and shows the growth of Butler's soon to be masterful storytelling.

-Joe Sherry

Disappointment
Good premise, but charcters were not very well formed, and not very likeable either. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

Butler's debut does not reach the heights of her later novels
Patternmaster is, I believe, the first novel published by Octavia Butler. In it Butler examines many of the themes and ideas which would become hallmarks of her work in decades to come. While Patternmaster is the first book Butler published, it is the fifth volume chronologically in her Patternist series.

Set in some distant future of ours, humanity is divided into three groups: the Patternists (those with a telepathy sort of gift), the Mutes (normal humans like you and me with no enhanced mental gifts), and the Clayarks (those suffering from a crippling transformative disease making them less than men). Considering the title of the novel, we see the story from the perspective of those with Patternist gifts.

There is a prologue with Rayal, the Patternmaster of this new world of ours, and his wife discussing that someday his children will fight and kill each other to take over the Pattern (the way the Patternists have power and link with each other). Then the first chapter introduces us to Teray and his sister / lover Iray leaving their school to join the household of Joachim. But when Joachim is forced to Trade Teray and Iray to his Coransee, the novel of conflict truly begins as Coransee wants to eliminate or control any obstacle to his taking control of the Pattern when Rayal dies. Teray, a strong Patternist and Coransee's brother, is that obstacle. Teray wishes only to be independent and free and not under the control of Coransee, so there's the conflict.

Patternmaster deals with racism (Patternists vs Mutes vs Clayarks), feudalism / class-ism, theories of power, and the possibility of the future. This is the genesis of all of Butler's work.

While Octavia Butler was an absolute master of science fiction and fantasy and that much of her later work was outstanding it is with great disappointment that Patternmaster failed to live up to Butler's pedigree. It is a decent novel with interesting ideas, and short at that, but Patternmaster ultimately falls into the trap of telling and not showing. There is a sense that Butler isn't letting the history flow organically out of the story, and that she is telling us too much. Whatever it is, it is something that does not work as well here as it did in Parable of the Sower or Dawn.

Still, Octavia Butler is always worth reading. Patternmaster is a short enough novel, but it ultimately fails to satisfy.

-Joe Sherry

Great conclusion to a great series
After reading Wild Seed, the first book in the series, I had to read Mind of Mind (Book 2) and finally, The Patternmaster.This book is the 3rd of a series and it makes much more sense if you read the previous two.

In The Patternmaster, Butler finishes the story of the Pattern which began in Mind of My Mind.I would NOT recommend this book if you have not read the previous two.Too many questions are unanswered, it would only be confusing.

I would recommend the first novel, "Wild Seed," followed by the second, "Mind of My Mind.""Clay's Ark" is a side novel, but it explains the origin of the Clayarks and part of the reason Earth is so messed up.If you read them prior to "The Patternmaster," things will be clearer.

To Schwinghammer - The reason it seemed that she didn't tell you where the novel took place was because she'd already done so in the previous books.I think you'll find Wild Seed interesting and entertaining; Mind of My Mind is the set up for The Patternmaster.

Feudalism restored?
Nebula Award winning Octavia E. Butler published PATTERNMASTER in 1976. Not being much of a science fiction fan, I had never heard of her until I received a pitch from one of my favorite writers, Pete Hautman. I was looking for a change of pace, so I figured, "Why not?"

PATTERNMASTER takes some getting used to. For instance, Octavia doesn't tell you where the story takes place until well into the novel. She also doesn't tell you when. When she mentions "humans" you can pretty much guess we're talking about the Earth well into the future. The Patternmaster is a character named Rayal who is sort of the big Kahuna. He is "connected" telepathically to all of the other Patternists, and he can use their energy. The Patternists can also use their minds as weapons. The PATTERNMASTER reminded me a bit of BRAVE NEW WORLD in that there was a definite hierarchy. The Patternists are evolved humans; the mutes are ordinary people who have become slaves to the Patternists. The Clayarks are part human and part animal; they hate Patternists and try to kill them at every opportunity. Way back in time a spaceship left the Earth; years later, when it returned, it brought back a disease and the Clayarks are the mutant results. Among the Patternists you also have Householders, Outsiders, journeymen, and apprentices. Think the Middle Ages; it's a bit like feudalism. Householders are like feudal lords; Outsiders are "controlled" by the Householders; journeymen and apprentices are youngsters who haven't been labeled as yet.

In the prologue Rayal and his lead wife, Jansee, are discussing their two sons. Jansee is worried one of them will eventually kill the other to replace Rayal as Patternmaster. Rayal isn't worried at all; mother love is a mute concept.

The story starts when Teray, the youngest son, and his wife Iray graduate from Redhill School. Teray has arranged an apprenticeship with a Householder named Joachim. What he doesn't know is that his brother, Coransee, controls Joachim. Eventually Coransee forces Joachim to surrender Teray's apprenticeship to him in trade for an artist. If Coransee can control Teray mentally, his road to becoming Patternmaster will be a lot easier.

Teray refuses to surrender control; he runs away to Forsythe, his father's "sector," with Coransee's "healer," Amber. She's an independent woman with ambitions to become a Housemaster herself. Coransee gives chase; Teray and Amber battle Clayarks along the way, Amber teaching Teray better fighting methods. Coransee is gaining on them. A showdown is inevitable.

I'm curious enough about Butler's Patternmasters to try another more recent novel. She's written eleven according to her bio. She won the Nebula in 1999 for PARABLE OF THE TALENTS; so she's still at it. The PATTERMASTER is a bit lacking in verisimilitude and the story is pretty predictable, but I'll definitely give her another shot.

It needed a better ending
Patternmaster picks up from many years after ClayArk's and Mind of my Mind.I enjoyed the story and found it interesting and well paced.My disappointment with the story comes from the lack of social improvement, and the continuation, or reverting to slave mentality.

In the story if you are not of the pattern and a leader of a house, then you are an outsider, or mute.These people are property of the house master.I ask why?The idea of a combined community is such a powerful concept.Yet Butler, does so little to show how society could benefit and improve; perhaps that would be a boring story.

I found the ending somewhat confusing.I wonder, what is the out come of the clayarks?With the clayarks, out of the way what is the direction of society - will it improve, or continue the tradition of slavery?At least we can say there is a large element of"superiority" for those who can participate in the pattern.

This book goes backwards in terms of social improvement.I guess that's one of the key concepts that separate Butler from other Sci-fi writers; she does not predict a society free of cultural, and other societal woes.

Overall I liked the book, but found the anticipation of the final battle somewhat drawn out and disappointing.

OEB Fan
If you are a fan of Ms. Butler's writings, you do not need a review to prompt you to read her works.If you are NOT a fan - pick up any one of her books and you will be transported to a world as vivid as the one you wake up to every morning! Ms. Butler's books capture your attention from the first page and keeps it there until the last word is read . . . .

Yep! This is the same thing I wrote about Mind of My Mind . . . you will not go wrong - trust me! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (17)

a fitting conclusion to the Patternist sequence
Clay's Ark is fittingly the final volume in Octavia Butler's Patternist series. While in the chronological order Clay's Ark would be third, its proper place in the reading order is that of the publication order: fifth. Some may find it preferable to read the Patternist novels chronologically, but this would be something of a mistake.

Patternmaster, the first published and last in the timeline, sets up our world as it will be in thousands of years. Technology has all but disappeared and there are telepaths ruling from households and controlling mutes, those humans without telepathic power. A third group are the clayarks, disease-ridden once humans who are disgustingly deformed and are feared and hunted. This brings us to Mind of My Mind where we see a world not too different than the one in which we now live, only the telepaths are only just beginning to take control. Next is the forgettable and all but disowned by Butler Survivor. The clayark disease has ravaged the Earth and one last group is permitted to settle a different planet. It ties into the Patternist world, but only from a tangent. Wild Seed gives us the origins of Doro, he who had the breeding program to develop the telepaths.

This brings us to the final novel in the Patternist sequence: Clay's Ark. Now, if we had not read Patternmaster we would have no idea what the clayarks are to become or what what the significance of the title Clay's Ark actually is. The title itself rewards readers of the series while it sets of warning bells about the content of the novel. If we are reading in publication order we know that the clayarks came from some sort of extra terrestrial virus / entity and that they overran the land. We know that something bad is coming and that this novel is likely to show us how it happened.

Clay's Ark tells two stories: Past and Present. Past features an initially unnamed man who is human, but is struggling against s